Hasselblad X1D-50c overview

1Description

Determined to shake up the photographic industry, Hasselblad has unleashed a world's first in the form of the black X1D-50c Medium Format Mirrorless Digital Camera. This camera takes the well-regarded 50MP 43.8 x 32.9mm CMOS sensor found in numerous medium format systems and incorporates it into a revolutionary mirrorless camera body. Designed and handmade in Sweden, this camera is a precision tool with exceptional ergonomics and a compact size that even rivals smaller format systems. Taking this system above and beyond the rest is a large sensor that works hand-in-hand with the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution to create phenomenal raw images with smooth tonal gradations thanks to 16-bit color depth and 14 stops of dynamic range.

Image quality is superb, and Hasselblad's electronic system is capable of capturing clean images within a sensitivity range of ISO 100-25600, while also being able to capture photos at a rate of up to 2.3 fps. Moving a bit beyond pure image quality, the X1D embraces the Hasselblad Central Lens Shutter, enabling shutter speeds as long as 60 minutes or as short as 1/2000 second, with flash sync possible at every speed. Additionally, to make the camera more versatile, Full HD 1080p video at 25 fps using H.264 compression is possible.

Moving into operational details, the X1D embraces mirrorless design by incorporating a 2.36MP XGA electronic viewfinder that permits natural, eye-level monitoring with the added advantage of overlays and programmable information in direct sight. One such feature would be the ability to shoot in various aspects with a view that compensates for such changes, including square or the classic XPan panoramic format. Alongside this EVF is a 3.0" 920k-dot touchscreen LCD on the rear that permits intuitive operation of all of the camera's features and settings.

For more physical and tactile use, the X1D offers front and rear dials as well as a mode dial which can be locked into a recessed position to prevent accidental changes when it is in your bag. There are also dual SD card slots for backup, organization, or just having extra storage. Bringing the system into the modern age is built-in Wi-Fi, allowing for remote connection and file transfer. Additionally, it has Mini HDMI, audio input and output, and a super-fast USB 3.0 Type C connection.

Hasselblad X System

Introducing mirrorless medium format, Hasselblad's X system takes the outstanding quality of a larger sensor and manages to create a compact, yet uncompromising camera that will deliver almost unparalleled image quality. It is designed and made in Sweden and draws inspiration from the company's legendary V system. Also, making use of the mirrorless design and a central lens shutter, system noise is kept to a minimum for shooting without disturbing your subject.

50MP CMOS Sensor

Revolving around a large 50MP CMOS sensor, measuring 43.8 x 32.9mm, the X1D-50c is capable of capturing an extremely wide dynamic range of up to 14 stops along with vivid 16-bit color depth. When combined with the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, tonal transitions and skin tones show immense depth, detail, and clarity for lifelike image quality, even in dark shadow and bright highlight regions. To suit working in a variety of lighting conditions, a sensitivity range of ISO 100-25600 is available, and still files are saved in the Hasselblad 3FR raw file format.

Hasselblad Natural Color Solution

Working with the spectacular image quality of the 50MP CMOS sensor, the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution is designed to deliver images with the most natural color without needing to delve into a variety of presets. This system is also capable of creating imagery with exceptionally smooth tonal transitions that are reminiscent of analog film capture, which is thanks in part to the X1D's 16-bit color depth.

Hasselblad Central Lens Shutter

Able to accelerate to open and close exceptionally quickly and reliably while also using minimal power, the central lens shutter mechanism offers numerous advantages for photographers. Namely, flash sync is possible at all shutter speeds up to 1/2000 second. The shutter is also in a ready state at all times for near instant response and it causes virtually no vibration at longer exposures. Additionally, it is durable and rated to beyond 1,000,000 exposures.

Full HD Video Recording

In addition to high-resolution stills shooting, the X1D can also record Full HD 1080p video at 25 fps. Video can be saved in the H.264 compressed format for greater editing flexibility with a variety of software options. For further video recording capabilities, the X1D offers 3.5mm audio input and output jacks as well as a Mini HDMI port for monitoring.

System Design and Connectivity

Integrated 2.36MP XGA electronic viewfinder permits natural eye-level viewing as well as the ability to display overlays and additional information clearly and effectively during shooting. It also displays the capture area when set to shoot 39MP square format or XPan panoramic images.

USB 3.0 Type-C connector offers transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbps for quick and responsive tethered live view and stills capture.

In addition to tethered shooting, dual SD memory card slots are incorporated into the side for flexible storage capabilities. Multiple options are available for maximum flexibility, including the ability to save all images to one card and automatically switch to the other when it is full as well as save RAW images to card 1 and JPEG to card 2.

Benefitting video applications, a Mini HDMI port permits use of an optional external monitor for clear monitoring. Additionally, 3.5mm audio in and out ports are provided for more flexible control over audio recording during video.

Optimized for use with XCD series of lenses which offer an integrated central shutter system capable of sync speeds up to 1/2000 sec.

Optional adapter provides compatibility with the updated range of HC and HCD lenses, which feature an improved leaf shutter unit for increased shutter and flash sync speeds of up to 1/2000 sec.

Weather and dust sealing ensures this system can stand up to all environmental conditions professionals find themselves in.

Phocus 3.1 is a free image processing software that complements the X1D's capabilities, and enables raw file processing for both stills and video, as well as a range of editing capabilities, including automatic moiré detection and the ability to work with adjustment layers for applying exposure, white balance, and color corrections.

Hasselblad X1D-50c reviews

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Darrell from
Small, great image and build qualityThis is a really good camera. The image quality and build quality are what you'd expect from Hasselblad. The camera body has that carved from a single block of metal feel that we use to get with the Hasselblad V series cameras. The menus are fairly intuitive, and it isn't overly complicated to learn. What can be better? The digital display is no where near as clear as what you'd see in a camera with a mirror. You can get use to it, but it won't ever be great. It's also not the camera for fast shooting. Autofocus is slow, and the image will fire off before the autofocus is complete. I'd hoped to use it for shooting concerts, but that's definitely not what it's good for.

Date published: 2017-05-01

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Chris Maldonado from
Best image quality.I'm replacing my H4D-40 dor the X1D-50c. I have mine with 45mm lens and waiting for the lens adapter to fully move on with my workflow. After a few days with the camera mostly outside for some tests I have to say that I'm in love. The quality of the images are even better than I was expecting and the portability is really awesome. I still need to test it in a proper photo session with people and strobes, tethered, to understand it's speed, the turning point for me is to have at least the same speed of operation I have with my H4D-40. For 35mm DSLR users this camera will look terribly slow, but it is part of the game. Different state of mind when photographing with medium format.

Date published: 2017-05-16

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Anonymous from
Medium Format MirrorlessI am currently shooting with a Phase One IQ140 and love the quality. The only two improvements that could be made would be a CMOS sensor (too expensive) and a reduction in weight. I played with the Hasselblad at the store last week and was disappointed. It was slow, much too slow with an electronic view finder that was annoying. This together with the lack of lens selection made the camera a poor choice in my opinion. For a cheaper solution the Pentax would be better but remember you are only getting a 14 bit processor so you are losing 4 times the tones of the Phase. The answer is for the IQ150 to come down to a reasonable used price.

Date published: 2016-12-20

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Anonymous from
Exceeded my very high expectations and overcame my concernsGiven online comments over the 8-month period that I was waiting for this one, I had some trepidation upon its arrival -- would the AF speed and accuracy be good? Would the multiple AF points be too fiddly to operate? How about shutter lag? Could this camera and a single 90mm lens really be worth over 10 grand? The great news is that the X1D exceeds my expectations, and then some. You can't imagine how sharp the images are, even hand-held in natural light (by far my favorite mode of shooting); the dynamic range is the same or a bit less than that of my Nikon D810 on paper, but in the real world seems even better, and the color rendering is mouth-watering and (to my eye) highly accurate. Auto-focus speed is quite good with very little hunting, I've quickly adapted to the dial-operated AF point selection method, and shutter lag is no worse than on the Olympus OM-D in my opinion. Check out the 100 percent crop from the portrait attached below, shot in fairly dark restaurant light at ISO 3200 -- in the catchlight in the subject's eye you can see the individual panes in the restaurant windows across the room! And the thing is just beautifully, beautifully made and carefully thought out. A pleasure to look at, handle, and operate, and feels great in the hand. I'm a happy boy!

Date published: 2017-03-02

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mike from
Early adopter Glitches, But...WOW!OK, I am a lifelong Nikon guy who went to Nikon Digital until Canon came out with the first full frame DSLR, and the 5dMkII made me a Canon guy. I upgraded to the MkIII and was thrilled with the images. Then after about 4 years, I got the itch, and the idea for an extremely large-format project, and with my obsessive disorder, cast caution to the wind, and got on the waiting list for an X1D. When it came, I was bummed after a week r two. It was glitchy, slow, hard to sort out, and the digital owner's manual read like 1970s Japanese manuals for remote controls, horrible translations and no answers. I had used a Pentax 645Z for a couple of months to adapt to medium format thinking and was seriously considering unloading the Hassey and the lenses, and decided to give it one serious week of immersion, started nagging support with my stupd questions, and out of nowhere...BOOM! I got it!! Suddeny, the slide-down settings menu made sense, and is intuitive and awesome. The general settings menu is the same. I discovered an incredibly responsive, extremely intuitive, brilliant block of aluminum love in my hand. Now, I have a brain injury that effects my cognition, so I'm not necessarily the ideal test subject, but this carved, elegant beauty now is sewn to my hip. It may not be the fastest thing to operate, it may have some quirks, and even do the occasional Windows-style freeze (remove battery and restart), but that's usually been because I can't wait an extra nanosecond, and it clears with no loss. Understanding that 90% of your shooting adjustments should be done on your touch screen is liberating. Being unashamed to hold it like a smartphone to take your shot is equally defining. Figuring out how to set the compensations for lighting is a revelation. There are some things, of course, I would change, but for what is essentially still v1.0 this is just an amazing accomplishment! I have started actually producing some physical prints from these files, and forget it. They are stupidly beautiful and monstrously massive. Shooting in Hassey's RAW and doing initial adjustments in Phocus is just orgasmic. Maybe there are ways to do many of these things in Photoshop or other imaging software, but the simplicity of things like perspective adjustment, lens distortion correction, etc blew me away. One shot I thought I had absolutely dead screws perfect was a solid 2 degrees off axis. What would have taken me an hour and not been satisfying on PS took a minute and was friggin' unbelievable on Phocus -- it was like 50 million little bots went in there and fixed the perspective Mr. Genius got wrong. The detail level was like entering an alternate universe... I could take the silly tourist on the edge of the lake at Chateau de Fontainebleau 1/3 of a mile away out one pixel at a time, until all was as it existed in 1643. But I digress. This camera is great for travel, studio, landscape, product, portraits. No way is it good for sports due to delay and uncertainty of exposure timing. But, hey, you don't take out the Christofle for the weekend barbeque. That's not to say you couldn't get some mind-blowing shots, but the focus timing and occasional unpredictability together with the shutter delay, buffering, and so on, mean you can't count on it to get that one shot -it might be busy muttering something in Swedish while processing the last three shots you took. Even so, for walking down the street candids and almost anything else, this baby rocked my world. I'm in love. For whatever reason, Customer Support has been unbelievably helpful, and interested in the glitches I report, so they can be addressed if not user error - something you'd never get out of Japan. I literally was texting with them in New Jersey and Stockholm while trying to capture a shot at a brief visit to a private historic home in Pars, with no time to wait or waste, and they got me straightened out, and I got the shot. How cool is that? I hope they come out with a zoom soon... changing lenses is not easy - the fit is very tight, and not something you want to do while walking down a busy street in the 4th. If I owned a stock of HC lenses, I'd go the adapter route, so I'll be waiting for the H zoom with baited breath. I can't wait to finish the post production and printing of the project and to see these if these babies work at 15' x 20'. Meanwhile heres a smaller jpg of a handheld fireworks shot of our little neighborhood show open for 8 seconds -- I mean, comeon!

Date published: 2017-07-14

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Peter from
Amazing bang for your buck!I'm a convert from the H5D system. The sensor is the same, but the fact that it's so small and light, and it has 1/2000 flash sync makes it a no-brainer for me. I can literally take this camera anywhere that I'd take a point and shoot. First, let me say that the RAW output I'm getting from this camera is actually slightly less noisy than from the H5D. I'm not sure how that's possible since the sensor is the same, but perhaps it's firmware. Regardless, straight from the camera these are some of the cleanest, smoothest photos I've seen from any digital camera. The ergonomics are really perfect. I can shoot one-handed with ease and it's light enough to carry around all day. It's also gorgeous in person, and much smaller than I expected from seeing it on the web. The interface itself is fantastic. Very intuitive and simple to use. The optics of the new XCD lenses blow me away. They are every bit the equal of the HC and HCD lines, but they are much more compact and have 1/2000 central shutter (yes, I realize the 2.0 HC lenses do as well). I am not a video guy, but I did shoot some clips of my kids on Easter and they came out very nice as well. Cons: The time from click to preview is too long. I'm finding it's about 1.5-2 seconds. It's not an action camera, so it's not a huge deal, but I hope that Hass is working on this in a future firmware release. The eye-sensor that activates the EVF is not a big fan of my glasses. I really have to squish my glasses up against it hard to get the EVF to turn on. However, I've found myself using the live view much more than I ever did on other cameras. It's a very bright screen and has plenty of power to view in direct sunlight. The firmware occasionally poops out and the battery has to be popped out. It's mild, 10 second inconvenience that I'm sure they will resolve as the product matures. If the EVF activated better while I'm wearing my glasses, I'd give it five stars. The sample image attached was shot with Broncolor MobiLED lights ISO 100 5.6 @ 1/90. I did not alter the photo except to remove the saturation.

Date published: 2017-04-18

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Stephen from
Try before you buyCouldn't wait to get my hands on one, but decided to rent for a week. The body is a work of art, no doubt, and the photos are gorgeous. But after a week, I was ready to buy 2 Nikon D850 for the same price-- and ready to return it. I don't need sports photography speed, but even a simple shoot with a model who's hair was blowing in the wind made me feel like I was missing a lot of great moments. So frustrating. I never really under stood the metering either--there's basically spot and center weighted--but no 3D Matrix. Didn't realize how nice that was till it was gone! There is a ton of data in the raw files, so you can get it back if you miss an exposure, but still, strange not to nail it in camera. Lastly, although you can move the focus point around using the touch screen, or the wheels, I was really missing the instant access you get to a focus point from a Nikon joystick. For slow, considered, landscape work, this camera is great. After that, I was often frustrated. One nice feature: the Profoto Nikon Air TTTL remote does work with it.

Date published: 2018-03-24

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Anonymous from
Been using it for 2 weeks now.I've been using it for 2 plus weeks now and while there are obvious cons, I love what it provides me. Here I've written long review with images I've taken with it : https://kchaeblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/24/week-2-with-hasselblad-x1d/